My Caesarean: Twenty-One Mothers on the C-Section Experience and After

by Amanda Fields

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Author: Amanda Fields

Publisher: The Experiment

Paperback:
ISBN 10: 1615195521
ISBN 13: 978-1615195527

Twenty-one vivid, moving essays on caesarean birth

“No one talks about C-sections as surgery,” writes SooJin Pate. “They talk about it as if it’s just another way—albeit more convenient way—of giving birth.” The twenty-one essays in My Caesarean add back to the conversation the missing voices of a vast, invisible sisterhood.

Robin Schoenthaler reflects: “A C-section for us meant life.” And yet, women who don’t give birth vaginally—by choice or necessity—often feel stigmatized. “My son’s birth was not a test I needed to pass,” writes Sara Bates. “As if growing a human inside another human for nine months then caring for it the rest of its life isn’t enough,” adds Mary Pan, herself a physician.

Alongside their personal stories, the writers—decorated novelists, poets, and essayists—address the history of the C-section as well as its risks, social inequities, impact on the body, and psychological aftermath. My Caesarean is a heartfelt meditation, offering much-needed comfort through shared experience.

Contributors include: Catherine Newman, Judy Batalion, Nicole Cooley, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Lisa Solod, Misty Urban, Jacinda Townsend, Mary Pan, Robin Schoenthaler, Elizabeth Noll, Jen Fitzgerald, Tyrese Coleman, SooJin Pate, Daniela Montoya-Barthelemy, Cameron Dezen Hammon, LaToya Jordan, Sara Bates, Susan Hoffmann, and Alicia Jo Rabins.

Review

“The cumulative sum of these stories is an enlightening reading experience for both those who’ve had C-sections and those who may.”—Publishers Weekly

“This brave, brilliant, and astoundingly well-written collection smashes the walls of silence and shame and lets C-section survivors celebrate each other as fellow mothers, as sisters on the surgical table, as patients who went under the knife and came out changed.”—Femmeliterate

“Women have always been able to find narrative stories that explore vaginal birth. But what about books that just talk about what happens during C-Section and shortly after? [This] new book takes a thoughtful approach and explores a diverse lens of stories.”—Mama Glow

“The C-section experience is as varied as life itself—there’s guilt and gratitude, pride and regret. These mothers illuminate the whole spectrum with depth, urgency, and humor. My Caesarean is the antidote to alienation, and I dearly wish I’d had it before my own births. I’m so glad we have it now.”—Meaghan O’Connell, author of And Now We Have Everything

“A fresh and compelling range of voices lifting a painful topic into the light.”—Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times–bestselling author of Girl in Pieces

“The essays in My Caesarean refuse to idealize the birth experience and show it in all its stunning unexpectedness. This is a beautiful and important book that should be prominently shelved in the birth and parenting section of every bookstore.”—Julie Schumacher, award-winning author of Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement

“This collection gathers the overlooked and under processed experiences of C-sections—each importantly different, each importantly the same—and prompts robust reflection. Together these voices create a much-needed community that will comfort and challenge, enlighten and affirm.”—Beth Ann Fennelly, poet laureate of Mississippi and author of Great With Child

About the Author

Amanda Fields is an assistant professor of English and the Writing Center director at Central Connecticut State University. She has published creative work in Indiana Review, Brevity, So to Speak, Nashville Review, and others. She coedited Toward, Around, and Away from Tahrir: Tracking Emerging Expressions of Egyptian Identity, and has published scholarship in Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy; Journal of Adolescent Research; Sexuality Research and Social Policy; and edited collections. Among her honors is the 2016 Kairos Best Webtext Award. She holds a PhD in rhetoric and composition from the University of Arizona and an MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of Minnesota. Learn more at amandajfields.com or on Twitter at @aj_fields.

Rachel Moritz is the author of the poetry collections Sweet Velocity and Borrowed Wave, which was a finalist for the National Poetry Series and the 2015 Minnesota Book Award in poetry. Her work has appeared in American Letters and Commentary, Colorado Review, Iowa Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Water-Stone Review, and other journals. Among her awards are grants from the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Rachel lives with her partner and son in Minneapolis where she works as a teaching artist and content developer for museum projects. More at rachelmoritz.com.

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My Caesarean: Twenty-One Mothers on the C-Section Experience and After